the design, they participated during construction. Now they’re the ones calling the city to ask for cleanup or repairs. They’re making sure the space is being used how it needs to be used.
Custom art—like this mosaic dedication—reflects each park’s unique character.
Senior Program Manager Tori Kjer oversees Los Angeles park projects for The Trust for Public Land.
whose parents are working, you rely on neighborhood parks for that kind of unstructured play and exploration.
How did you discover The Trust for Public Land? I originally came to Los Angeles to work on food access issues. I saw how fast-food restaurants tended to be located in low-income neighbor- hoods, and it got me thinking about how communities weren’t planned equitably. I wanted to do something to change that, so I got my master’s degree in landscape architecture. When I saw the job posting for
the Parks for People–Los Angeles program it was one of those moments where you rub your eyes and, you’re like, “Am I dreaming? Is this even real?” I feel so lucky because this job is exactly what I went back to school for: to make a difference.
How would you explain participatory design to someone who’s never heard of it? Basically, people know what they need. Participatory design is asking
people about their priorities—what’s missing from their neighborhood and what they’d like to see. It’s so much easier if you start by talking to the community instead of spending all this time on a plan and only sharing it when it’s finished. It’s about going in with an open process and an open mind and letting people shape their own space. Anyone can design a playground—
you can plant some grass, throw in a play structure and a couple of benches and I’m sure it will get lots of use. But our team thinks carefully about designing these spaces, incorporating community input and finding ways to bring in creative play elements and art and other special touches that give our parks a sense of meaning, of place.
Why is that important? When you include the community in park planning, they embrace it. They love it, they visit it, they use it. We’re working in areas where budgets for park maintenance are tight. So the more we can involve people from the beginning and create that sense of ownership, the better. We have a park in Northeast Los Angeles called El Sereno Arroyo Play- ground. The community was pushing for this space even before we started working on it—they gave input on
What do you think drives people to get involved like that? In neighborhoods that need so many improvements, why are people willing to fight for parks? Every person needs a park. Maybe it’s a tiny little pocket park or maybe it’s a couple acres, but everybody needs a space where they can take a moment to pause and just be in the world. In the communities where we work, peo- ple are often holding down multiple jobs and have a lot of stressors in their lives just trying to meet their family’s basic needs. And I think that makes the spaces that we’re building even more important.
You’ve been described by coworkers as a bulldog, some- one who doesn’t take no for an answer. What motivates you? It’s challenging, complicated work, but I know that it pays off. Yes, our approach involves multiple steps, and it takes time to build really special parks—but I try to stay focused on the end result and the reasons why we’re doing it. When we held the ribbon-cutting
for El Sereno—well, you never know when you plan a community event what you’re going to get. We were ex- pecting maybe a hundred people, but we had close to 850 show up. Now I’ll go by in the morning and see people doing tai chi, or I’ll go in the evening and see kids playing, seniors sitting on benches, and people exercising and walking laps around the park. That’s the payoff. It’s magical to me.
FIRST LOOK · 21
sara cozolino
darcy kiefel
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